Cat's Meow
by Emcnary
Summary: There's a new cat in the castle, and Mrs. Norris wants nothing more than to catch his attention. Round 5 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition.


A piercing yowl erupted from Mrs. Norris as she fought the liquid that was being forced down her throat. She recognized the feel of the dropper her human used to administer the hairball preventative potion Grumpy Professor provided.

"There, there, my sweet," her human said soothingly as she felt his hand gently trying to open her jaw. "Drink up and you'll be back to rights in no time."

Soothed by his voice, Mrs. Norris went still, allowing her human to finish the job as he gently stroked her coat.

"Make sure she drinks it all, Argus."

Mrs. Norris opened her eyes after hearing the second voice. Peering down at her was her human and the friendly professor who was always covered in dirt. She felt momentarily confused as she blinked at the smiling faces; the last thing she remembered before waking was performing the patrol of the castle corridors her human had assigned her. Her mind briefly flashed to the memory of giant yellow eyes reflected through the puddle of water. Although relieved to see her human, the terrible memory prompted Mrs. Norris to leap to her feet, hissing loudly as she ran from the hospital wing. Bolting through the castle, she did what any self-respecting cat would do: hid under the chest of drawers in her human's living quarters.

She stubbornly refused to emerge from underneath the chest for anything but meals until the students had left the castle following the end of the summer term. Even when her human tempted her with a plate full of her favorite roasted salmon, she refused to eat it unless he pushed it as close to the edge of the chest as possible so she could eat while she remained half-hidden, purring contentedly to herself. Once the castle had emptied of bothersome students, she braved venturing out and resumed her nightly patrols once more.

The summer months were always serenely quiet. Mrs. Norris was thankful for this; no students making her patrols more exciting than necessary, no extra messes for her human to clear away, and no excess noise from the students walking the corridors between classes to interrupt her naps. The only thing she had to be mindful of was Peeves. With no students to entertain the Poltergeist, he was more likely to pester her when boredom struck.

It wasn't until August that anything concerning popped up for Mrs. Norris. The new professor for the position that changed every year entered the castle for the first time, and there was something off about this one. She couldn't put her paw on it, but she hissed at him as she walked past his open classroom and decided to keep her distance. The new professor along with the strange atmosphere in the castle caused Mrs. Norris to resume hiding more frequently once the start of term approached. The professors and her human walked the corridors more frequently, patrolling nightly as she did. Her human also read the newspaper more often and muttered agitatedly after he finished turning its pages, telling Mrs. Norris that there was going to be more work for them that year.

These things kept Mrs. Norris from venturing too far from her human's quarters, leaving only when she felt it necessary to patrol or when her human charged her with following the enormous gamekeeper when he entered the castle. Since she rarely ventured far, it wasn't until nearly two weeks into the start of term that Mrs. Norris noticed the new feline that must have been brought into the castle by one of the students. It wasn't often that a student had a cat as a familiar, so his appearance took her by surprise. She was making her way back to her human's quarters after her late night patrol when she first crossed paths with the distinctive-looking male cat that was half again as large as she was. Ginger-colored and fluffy, with a keen look about him, Mrs. Norris halted her movements to give a low growl and stare haughtily at the newcomer. If he was going to live in the castle, the new cat needed to know straightaway that she was the cat in charge.

Much to her annoyance, the cat ignored her completely as he walked past, his bottlebrush tail held high like a flag. Unable to put forth even the smallest hiss to follow her growl, Mrs. Norris stared, gobsmacked, as the new cat continued on as if he hadn't even seen her. Didn't this newcomer know that as far as the animals in the castle were concerned, this was _her_ castle? How dare he saunter past without so much as acknowledging her presence? _Humph_. With a hiss of warning—which the orange cat ignored—Mrs. Norris turned and continued on her way.

Ever observant, Mrs. Norris used her time in the following weeks to learn more about the intruding beast—now known as Orange Cat—who walked the corridors at night as if he owned the castle. She learned that his human was one of the three students _her_ human despised the most. She learned that when he wasn't patrolling the corridors, he was usually stalking mice or creating mischief her human would not approve of. Unrolling the toilet paper in the rarely used first floor girls' lavatory was a regular occurrence.

She also learned that it bothered her that he ignored her presence. After their initial late night meeting in the empty corridor, Mrs. Norris continued to attempt to catch Orange Cat's attention. She moved from the low growl and hissing to friendlier greetings. When they passed each other on patrol, she would pause and sound a light trill or chirp to attract his attention before twining her body around the legs of a nearby statue or nudge her head along the floor. She even rolled on her back once in an extreme effort to catch his attention. Still, he ignored her. His rebuff was beginning to grate on her nerves. Afterall, there she was, acting like a besotted fool, and the berk took no notice of her.

It was also maddening that she caught herself cataloging Orange Cat's physical attributes; his thick coat, his round eyes, his distinctive face. Harassed at her musings—leading her to the realization that she must fancy the fluffy ginger ponce—she eased her troubles by calling her human to issue a punishment to two students she caught attempting to enter the kitchen after hours.

In late Autumn, as she dutifully checked on the owlery to make sure the avian menaces weren't up to late night shenanigans, Mrs. Norris decided to begin cataloging the reasons why she shouldn't fancy the world's most obnoxious cat rather than continuing to list his charming physical attributes. Afterall, she had been trying to catch his attention for ages and was beginning to think he would ignore her forever. His human, for one thing, was a problem. She wondered what her human would say about her fancying the familiar of a student from the wrong House. He loathed the students by and large for the trouble they caused, but none more so than those from Stern Professor's House. Irritated that she should even have to wonder whether it was all right to fancy a cat from a certain House, she swatted at a barn owl as it swooped low on its landing and nearly brushed her head with its wing. Promptly deciding that she needn't pursue the offending bird any further than the angry hiss she gave, Mrs. Norris nimbly pranced down the stairs. Who cared if Orange Cat was from the red and gold House? He'd be fanciable no matter what House his human was in, and if she wanted to fancy him, she would.

By the time the Christmas season came about, Mrs. Norris was ready to start swiping her paw at the object of her affection every time she came across him in the castle. He was still ignoring her, not acknowledging her presence in the slightest. Christmas Day found her wandering the uncrowded corridors. With a large portion of the students out of the castle for the holidays, her patrols were quiet affairs. As she was rounding the corner of the staircase leading to the seventh floor, Mrs. Norris stopped in her tracks. Orange Cat was crouched under a suit of armor. She sat back on her haunches and cocked her head to the side, watching as he struggled with a piece of shiny tinsel tied in a large bow around his neck. Taking notice that he was not alone, Orange Cat halted his fight with the offending holiday decoration and stared at Mrs. Norris for a moment before he let out a low plaintive wail, clearly asking for her assistance.

Rather than helping, Mrs. Norris stared at Orange Cat for a long moment before she stood and walked back to the staircase. With her head held high—and not a glance back in his direction—she walked away. After returning to her human's quarters and kneading her favorite blanket into submission before lying down, Mrs. Norris wondered if Orange Cat would continue to ignore her presence. Yawning widely, she rested her head on her paws and decided she didn't care. With pleasant thoughts of Orange Cat still battling with the festive accessory his human had adorned him with, she drifted to sleep for a satisfyingly long nap.

* * *

A/N: This is for round 5 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction competition

Challenge: CHASER 3-Pansy (as inspired by Pansy Parkinson): Write about a character loving another character despite being mistreated or ignored by them.

Prompts: 5. (Quote) 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet'-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 9. (Word) serene, 12. (Object): toilet paper

Word count: 1560 according to Google docs


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